Automatic telephone system



Feb. 10, f925- 1,526,081

W. W. OWEN ET AL AUTOMATJ. C TELEPHONE SYSTEM Filed July 25 918 3 Sheets-Sheet l [nusnfurs Nzllmm. NflwEn C 115F155". M. Candy. 7 m Hy:

Feb; 10. 1 925.

w. w. owaui ET AL AUTOMATLU TELECPH'ONE SYSTEM Filed July 25, 1918 3 Sheerheat 5 I Patented Feb. 1%, i925.

$TA TES PATENT OFFICE.

wILLIAI-I w. owns, or ELGIII, ANED enemies in, CANDY, or CHICAGO;- ILLINOIS, Assrenons academic steer-arc COMPANY, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A coa- POR-ATION OF ILLINOIS.

AUTGMATIC TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

Application filed July 25,

Tom U iii/mm it may, concern.

fie it known that we, ly riimnir W. Own); and CHAR s M; CANDY, citizens of Elgin,

Kane County, Illinois, and Chica 'o. Cool: A I New. 2: ecu ill nois respectively, have invented \1 pro I .iechanisin and circuits for use in an utomatic telephone system and more caliy to; an improved method of mg nailing a called subscriber in such asysten'i. in the pastit has been the custom when 0 lling pa; y lines to pro.'ide a plurality of 'ronps of connector switches having access each group of party lines, each group connectors ringing with a different frequency, so that in orderto call a subscriber si 1h party line, the calling man must pick out the group of conuectorswhich has the 'oper f equency and use a connector in such group to call the line. It will be seen that each line must be multipled into four roups of connectors, in a four party line system, and n matter how few party lines there are there must always be as many groups of connectors as there are parties on a It has been the common practice in stems to use the so called jack per scheme in connection with such a so that when a subscriber moves from one part of town to another his phone ll be given the same call number, h he may use a different line switch Such a scheme is well known to and it is thought a detailed description will be unnecessary. This jack per station scheme is the simple method of connecting the subscribers lines and the contacts of the connector banks to idle strips of contacts on a so called inte' ediate distributing fr "is so that jumps-3s may be connected f the line terminal strips to those of the connector bani: cont Thus if a line is moved to a line section, the jumper rrosn this new 11 terminal blocl; will be connected c Wrminal strip of the same contacts e connector over which the line was 1918. serial m. 2465643.

a u par y, l n i ,meved 9. 1 her..-P of the exchange-,he must, itwill be seen, be put on to another four party. line in his new section.which has an .idle' place for a station of his particular frequency, that is, there musthe no subscriber onthe newline having the same frequency bell, asthe old call number which he desires to retain will always use the same frequency, coming as it does from a particular group of connectors. I I

The main object of our inyention there-v fore is .to provide improved circuits sothat the character of the signalling current ap plied by a connector when calling a certain called number may be aried at will, so that when moving a subscriber, he may be added to any lineregardless of, the character of the stations already there and. may be called by the same nin bei', butin calling this number any desired frequency may. he applied to the line and if there is already a stationron the line to which he has moved which has the same frequency as he formerly had then the circuits are adjusted to apply tne frequencycorresponding to the vacant space on that line.

In order to accomplish this and other results we have made the ringing relays of the lines individual to the sets of contacts in the connector banks, and each is so arranged as to apply any one of a plurality of frequenciesto the line which may be connected thereto by jumpers, thus making it possible to call party lines through the medium of only one group of connectors,

teferring to the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 shows a connector switch H and a called. line A accessible thereto, alsoshowing the multiple contacts of said line in the same connector for calling any one of the parties on said line.

Fig. 2 is a schematic representation of the intermediate distributing frame showing the arrangement of the jack per station scheme as applied in accordance with the principles of our invention.

Fig. 3 is an alternative method of applying our invention and shows a connector H and acalled line A with its multiples.

Referring first to Fig. 1 we will explain the operation of the apparatus in detail when the connector H is seized by a calling subscriber and operated to connect with and signal a subscriber on the line of substation A.

When the connector H is seized by a selector or line switch, depending upon the size of the system a circuit is closed in the usual manner (101 line relay 2 which closes a circuit for slow relay 3. Relay 3 prepares a circuit for slow series relay 4 and vertical magnet and opens a point in the circuit of release magnet 6.' As soon as relay 2 is operated by the impulses of a digit of a called number, it falls back a number of times to operate magnet a predetermined number of times and to energize re lay 4. Magnet 5 operates to step the wipcrs 7 to 10 inclusive to some level of the connector bank in which the desired line is located. Relay 4 upon falling back after this series of impulses prepares a. circuit for the rotary magnet 11 and relay 12 in multiple through springs 13 which were closed on the initial movement of the switch. As soon therefore as relay 2 operates in response to the next digit the circuit of magnet 11 is closed a number of times to step the wipers 7 to 10 inclusive to the desired contacts of the bank and slow relay 12 is energized and maintained energized for a. second after the impulses cease.

Should the called line be busy a ground will be present on the private contact thereof and will flow over wiper 9., through springs 14 and 15, and relay 16 to bat tery. Relay 16, upon energizing, connects the busy circuit from the device M to the calling line circuit to indicate the busy condition of the called line, opens the circuit the magnet 11 and relay 12, and locks itself to ground through springs 17, 18 and 19. Whereupon the calling subscriber may release and call again. assuming the called line to be idle, then relay 16 will not be energized and as soon as relay 12 falls bacl: a circuit will be closed for the upper winding of relay 20 extending from ground throu h springs 19, springs 18, upper vinding or said relay, springs 21 and 14, wiper 9, and through bridge cut off relay 22 and magnet 23 to battery. Relays 20 and i i only, energize at this time due to their comparatively high resistance. Belay 20 opens the circuit of magnet 11, closes springs 24 and 25, connects ground through spring 28 and its front contact direct to wiper 9, and also to hold itself energized through its lower winding. The direct ground on wiper 9 maintains the called line busy to further calls at its multiples and holds relay energized. A further result of the energization of relay 20 is the closure of springs 27 with the following result (h-mind is connected through springs 23 of the rin cut off relay 29, through sprin s 27. through a special. wiper 10 and a coin tact 3 through the relay 34 of a board of ringing relays which may be located preferably on or near the intermediate distrib uting frame. This particular relay 34 one of four relays allotted to this four party line, each relay being individual to one of four sets of multipled contacts associated with this line. It will be understood that these four multiplied sets of bank contacts may be arranged in a row either vertically or horizontally without changing the operation. For instance, the numbers allotted to this particular party line when first installed may be 1111, 1112, 1113 and 1111 and the contacts will therefore be the first, second, third, and fourth sets of contacts in the first level of this connector bank. It is understood that there will in practice he more than one connector having access to this party line and therefore each set of contacts may be multipled into many connectors as trafiic conditions demand. it will be assumed that the subscriber A is allotted the number 1114 and the connector is operated to the fourth set of contacts in the first level. Then as soon as the switch cuts through as described and relay 34 is energized, it will apply generator from the 16 cycle generator by way of springs 36 and 37 of interrupter relay 35, jumper 38, springs 39 of relay 34, contact 40, jump er 41, to and through the ringers of the iarious stations of the called line, baclt through jumper 42, wiper 7, springs 24, s 'irings and 44, and upper winding of relay 29 to battery. As the bell of substation A is of the 16 cycle character this bell only will operate and as soon as the receiver at said sul'istation is removed. a direct cur-- rent circuit will be closed for relay 29 which relay immediately energizes and locks itself to ground through springs 1.9. Relay 29 also opens the circuit of relay 34 at springs 28 and said rela} falls back to disconnect the generator current, relay 29 also closes springs and 43 and springs 46 to cut the connection through to the called sub scriber in the usual manner.

N ow if the number 1113 had been called then the contacts 47 to 50 inclusive, would have been connected with and relay 33 would in this case be operated. to connect 5O cycle generator to the called line to signal some other station thereon. clays 31. and 32 are of similar nature and would be operated when the numbers 1.112 and 1111 are called.

Referring now to Figure 2 we will ere plain how the cross connection is made and the operations necessary should a line be moved from one section to another.

In this Fig. 2, 51 represents a subscribers line cable from the main distributing frame which is fanned out on the I. D. F. or intermediate distributing frame to vertical rows of terminals. The terminals 52,

and 54: represent the terminals to which the four party line of substation A (Fig. 1) is connected, the two line conductors thereof leading to terminals 53 and 5 1 and the terminal 52 representing the private normal or the lineswitch allotted to this line. The cable"55 leads from the vertical terminals to a line switch board represented at E which line switches have access through selectors at F to connector at G. The various sets of contacts "from the connector banks are carried through a cable and fanned out on a row of horizontal terminal sets at the right of the figure, thus the firjt set of line and private contacts inthe lower bank leads to contacts-marked 1111. In a single station line'such as represented at contacts 5?, 58 and 59 a jumper 60 1s simply connected to the called nunx; ber contacts of that line such as 1118. In this-case when 1118 is calledthe relay 1118 will pullnpand apply ringing current of any desired frequency tothat line depending upon which generator the front contact of relay 1118 isconne'cted to by its jumper. In the case of a tour party line however,

the terminals 52, 53 and 54: are multiple'd to'a set of tour so-called idler block terminal sets, as shown. Then if the first party #1111 then the jumperfromcontacts 1111 is connected thereto and relay 31 is used to signal that party. e have shown the numbers 1111, 1112. 1113, and 1114 as allotted to this line as explained in connection'with Figure 1. Let us assume that the subscriber A whose number is 1114 and who is now signalled by 16 cycle current from relay 34, desires to move to some other part of townand his telephone line comes in on some other line switch. Of course he will still desire to be on a four party line and retain the same call number. In this case suppose that the section into which he is moved has only one vacant space which is on another party line al-' ready having three stations thereon, one having a 16 cycle ringer, one a cycle and another a 66 cycle. Now this other line'will have a similar set of idler block terminals nlultipled thereto and the jumper 61 from contacts qttllh will be'removed 110111 the contacts 62, 63 and 64 and con net-ted to the idle block of the new party line. low as there is already a 16' cycle on this party line then the ringer .i must be changed to 33 cycle rront contact of relay Set must red to one of the terminals such ltlliltl to the cyclegonerator.

called the connector opanti energize relay 34 which A to signal the subscrib "ual manner to pick out cycle generator to the" subscribers 11121}! be changed from single to party lines or vice versa or from one party line to another regardless of the character ot the stations already there and that'the connectors or the call numbers nced'never be changed; Also it will be seen that each call number or set 'of contacts in theconnector has a ringing relay individual thereto which may apply any frequency or current to the line.

In Figure 3 we have shown a modification of the scheme shown inFignres land 2; In this case we have adapted our invention to a connector switch having only three wipers.- The relays 131 to 134% inclusive, instead of being in circuit with a fourth wiper of the connector are in series with the regular private wiper; These relays 13%, etc, are of such a character that they will energize only when the special battery 3; is included in circuit therewith. lVe will explain onlythe operation of these relays, it being understood that the majority of the-relays and parts shown are ex actly similar to those shown in Fig. 1. This connector H operates as the connector H (Fig. 1) to connect with any of four multiplesot' the line of substation A, and after the" connection is established therewith and the line is found idle, relay 120 pulls up in the usual manner and closes the springs 12?, which connects the battery X through wiper 109 and in series with special relay 134, assuming-that 111d is called. Relay 13s connects generator to the line in the same manner as did relay 3 1 Fig. 1. As soon as the called subscriber answers,-relay 129 energizes to cut 0d battery X at springs 128 and cuts the connection through in the usnalmanner. It will be -seen that each relay is energized onlywhen' connection is extended to its partic'ular-multiple-in spite of the fact that-all the privates are inu'ltipled together as each relay is connectcd inthe branch of the multiples extending to itsparticular set of con' tacts. In all other respects Fig. 3 is similar to Fig. 1 and might'easily be laid out in the-same manner as shown in Fig. 2. It will therefore be seen that we have provided a novel and very useful method of signalling called subscribers in a jack per station systenr which enables a party to be moved without regard to'frequency or other details'toany' part 01 the system and on any line thereinby a simple method of cross connection;

Having fully described and ascertained the features and objects of our invention, what'we considerto be new and desire to have protected by Letters Patent will be pointed out in the'appended claims.

hat we claim as our invention is 1. In a telephone system, an automatic will thus be seen that the switch,a plurality of lines accessible to said snitch, means for operating said switch to extend a talking circuit toone of said lines, a relay individual to each line, and means for operating one of said relays over a circuit independent of the talking circuit to signal the associated line when connection is extended thereto.

2. In a telephone system, a party line, an automatic switch for extending a talking circuit to said line, a plurality of substations on said line, a ringer for each station, a plurality of relays individual to said line, one for each station, and means for operating any of said relays over a circuit independent of said talking circuit to signal its station.

3-. In a telephone system, a line, a plurality of stations on said line, a plurality of branches for said line, an automatic switch having means for extending a talking circuit to any of saidbranchcs, and means individual to each branch operated over a circuit separate from said talking circuit when connection is extended thereto for signalling acertain one of said stations.

4. In a telephone system, a line, a plural ity of stations on said line, an automatic switch having access thereto, means for operating said switch by only the last two digits of the call number of said line to extend a talking circuit to said line, and means controlled over a circuit separate from the talking circuit for signalling any of the stations on said line automatically controlled by the operation of the switch when connection is extended to the line.

5. In a telephone system, an automatic switch, a plurality of lines, a plurality of sets of contacts associated with said switch and accessible thereto, means for connecting any one of said. lines to a pair of contacts of any set of contacts, a relay individual to each set of contacts and connected to another contact of said set separate from the line contacts, a plurality of sources of signalling current, means for associating said relay with any of said sources of current, and means controlled by the connection of said switch with a set of contacts, for operating the relay associated therewith to apply the associated source of current to the line associated with the set of contacts.

6. In a telephone system, subscribers lines, a plurality of stations for each line, signalling devices for each line, a ringing relay for each station on each line, means for extending a talking circuit to said line and for operating one of said relays over a circuit separate from the talking circuit to operate the signal of one of said stations, and means for causing said relay to apply any frequency of current to said line without changing the call number thereof.

7. In a telephone system, subscribers lines,

a plurality of stations on each line, signalling devices for each line, a ringing relay for each station on each line, automatic switching means for extending a talking circuit to said line and for operating one of said relays over a circuit separate from the talking circuit to operate the signal of one of said stations, and means for causing said relay to apply any frequency of current to said line without changing the call number thereof.

8. In a telephone system, a subscribers line,

a plurality of stations on said line, a plural.- ity of sources of signalling current, means for extending a talking circuit to said line, a plurality of relays individual to said line, one for each station, and means for energizing any of said relays over a circuit separate from the talking circuit to apply one of said sources of current to the line to signal the station associated with said relay.

9. In a telephone system, an automatic progressively movable switch having a plurality of sets of bank terminals individual thereto, a plurality of telephone lines, and means for connecting any terminal to any line, a ielay individual to each set of terminals, one of said relays always energized when connection is made by said switch to the terminal individual to said relay to signal a station on the line to which it is connected, and means for causing said relay to apply any one of a plurality of sources of current to its connected line.

10. In an automatic telephone system, a party telephone line, a calling branch for said line terminating in an automatic switch, a plurality of called branches for said line, a ringing relay individual to each called branch, sources of linging current of dif ferent character, a distributing frame on which said line and said called branches are connected by jumpers, a second distributing frame on which each relay is connected to a different one of said sources, automatic switches for completing connections to said line by way of the called branches, and means in each switch for operating the relay associated with any branch in use to selectively signal the desired station.

11. In an automatic telephone system, a party telephone line, a calling branch for said line terminating in an automatic switch, a plurality of called branches for said line, a ringing relay individual to each called branch, sources of ringing current of different character, a permanent connection between said line and calling branch and between each called branch and its associated relay, a distributing frame on which. said line and called branches are temporarily connected by jumpers, a second distributing frame on which said relays are temporarily connected each to a different one of said sources, auton'iatic switches for completin connections to said line by Way of the called branches, and means in each switch for operating the relay associated with any called branch in use to selectively signal the desired station,

12. In an automatic telephone system, a party telephone line, a calling branch terminating in an automatic switch for use in extending out going calls from said line, a plurality of called line branches, connector switches hai-iiig access to said called line branches for completing incoming calls to said line, a ringing relay individual to each of said branches, ditl'erent sources of ringing current associated with said relays, a permanent connection between said line and calling branch, a distributing frame on which said line and the said called branches are temporarily connected by means of jumpers, a second distributing frame on which each of said relays is temporarily connected to one of said current sources, and means in each connector effective when the same is used to complete an incoming call for operating the relay associated with the called branch in use to selectively signal the desired station on said line.

13. In an automatic party line telephone system, aplurality of party lines, a plurality of connector switches, called branches for said lines, each branch being assigned a separate telephone number and being terniinated in the banks of a number of said connectors, means whereby any party line may be readily connected to any desired plurality of said branches at will and whereby any connected branch may be easily shifted to any other party line, a plurality of ditlerent sources of ringing current, and means whereby any one of said sources may be readily associated with any desired branch and whereby any branch in use may be changed at will with respect to the ringing current source with which it is associated, whereby a telephone station may retain its number when connected to a new party line regardless of whether or not such new party line has a vacancy which corresponds to the ringing current source which was associated with said station on the old party line.

14. In an automatic party line telephone system, party lines, connector switches, means for connecting any party line with any desired sets of contacts 111 the banks of said connectors and for changing any contact set to a different party line at will,

sources of ringing current of different character, and means for associating any source with any set of bank contacts and for readily changing any set of bank contacts with respect to the ringing current source with which it is associated, where y a given set of bank contacts may be assigned to any party line and to any station on such party line regardless of the ringing current source to which such station is adapted to respond.

15. In a telephone system, a party line, a station on said line responsive to a particular kind of ringing current, automatic switching mechanism at the exchange for connecting with the line of said station when the number of the station is called and for transn'iitting the correct ringing current to signal said station, another party line having a vacancy which corresponds to a different kind of ringing current, means whereby the said station may be called by means of the same switching mechanism and the same number after it is connected to the said second line, the ringer at said station having been changed to adapt the station to respond to the ringing current corresponding to the said vacancy, and means co-operating with said switching mechanism for transmitting the correct ringing current to signal said station when the station is called on the new line.

16. In a selective ringing telephone system, a party line, a station on said line having signalling arrangements different from the signalling arrangements at any other station on said line, automatic switching mechanism at the exchange for connecting with the said party line when the number of the said station is called and for selectively signalling the said station, another party line having a vacancy which corresponds to a substation signalling arrangement differing from the signalling arrangement at said station, means whereby the said station may be called by means of the same switching mechanism and the same number after it is connected to the said second line, the signalling arrangements at said station having been changed to correspond to said vacancy, and means for causing said switching mechanism to selectively signal said station when the same is called on the new line.

Signed by us at Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, this 22nd day of July, 1918.

W ILLIAM W. Ol/VEN. CHARLES M. CANDY. 

